Each year in June the Peace Festival is held in the Royal Pump Room Gardens in Leamington Spa. A colourful and eclectic mix of stallholders, different religious and activist and local community groups, musicians, street food vendors, and sellers of vibrant gypsy, bohemian and ethnic clothes, hats, bag and jewellery all converge on the gardens.Continue reading “Joyful Atmosphere at the Leamington Spa Peace Festival June 2018”
Category Archives: culture
An Amazing Speaker on Issues of Domestic Abuse, Human Trafficking and Forced Marriage in the UK: Raj Holness
Yesterday ( Monday 12th February 2018) at St Paul’s Church, Leamington Spa, I heard an amazing speaker Raj Holness who runs an organisation called Break the Silence Uk (BTSUK) which seeks to protect and support women who have suffered domestic abuse, human trafficking and forced marriages, and also to provide a refuge for them alongsideContinue reading “An Amazing Speaker on Issues of Domestic Abuse, Human Trafficking and Forced Marriage in the UK: Raj Holness”
A Diversity of Spiritual Outlooks Through Time at the British Museum in London
On Saturday 23rd December 2017 I went to see the exhibition “Living with Gods: peoples, places and worlds beyond” at the British Museum in London. The exhibition curator Jill Cook had set out to show the development of religious symbols through physical objects which people in widely diverse cultures and historical periods have used to denote theirContinue reading “A Diversity of Spiritual Outlooks Through Time at the British Museum in London”
‘The Curse of Time’: A Guest Post by M.J. Mallon, Author of ‘The Curse of Time, Book 1- Bloodstone’
I’m delighted to welcome M.J. Mallon to this blog today, to promote her new YA/Middle Grade fantasy novel The Curse of Time, due out on 26th August. I’m very interested in magical realism and this is the subject of the guest post featured today. I was also intrigued by some of the author’s inspirations includingContinue reading “‘The Curse of Time’: A Guest Post by M.J. Mallon, Author of ‘The Curse of Time, Book 1- Bloodstone’”
The Full Monty and What it Says About Not Being Controlled by Your Circumstances
Recently I watched the 1997 British comedy drama film “The Full Monty” again. The reason why I love it is that it’s about “little” people deciding not to be controlled by their circumstances. Six men who in their different ways are suffering during the decline of the Sheffield steel industry, decide to do something nobodyContinue reading “The Full Monty and What it Says About Not Being Controlled by Your Circumstances”
What the Camp Comedian Has To Say to the Creative Writer
I love camp, on-the-cusp comedians who subvert gender stereotypes. A good example is Julian Clary who is above all a genius with words – playful, teasing, fluid, quixotic, suggestive, subversive – and he has an acute sense of irony. His camp public persona in itself subverts what I believe may lie much deeper in him,Continue reading “What the Camp Comedian Has To Say to the Creative Writer”
Echoes of “A Passionate Spirit” in Mystical Tales from British Folklore
Book Review: “Faeries, Elves and Goblins: The Old Stories” by Rosalind Kerven, published by the National Trust I bought this book recently in a National Trust gift shop, and found it captivating. Rosalind Kerven explores the raw material from which many of our great fantasy novelists have derived their archetypes. She includes “mystical tales ofContinue reading “Echoes of “A Passionate Spirit” in Mystical Tales from British Folklore”
The Power of Personal Stories, for Remembrance, for Empathy and to Ignite a Passionate Spirit for Change
The love of story telling which I learned as a young child, through reading adventure stories, grew into a passion to write stories myself. Writing and reading stories is all about our ability to enter other hearts and minds and worlds, and to exercise and develop our powers of empathy. I hope that is what myContinue reading “The Power of Personal Stories, for Remembrance, for Empathy and to Ignite a Passionate Spirit for Change”
Antithesis to HRH’s Quirky Garden Rooms Full of Curiosities: Compton Verney Capability Brown Landscape
Isn’t it lovely how many different moods and themes can be captured by garden designers and landscape architects? A week ago I was speaking to the guide who led our tour around Highgrove Gardens about how HRH The Prince of Wales viewed Capability Brown. And the answer was that he realises in some contexts theContinue reading “Antithesis to HRH’s Quirky Garden Rooms Full of Curiosities: Compton Verney Capability Brown Landscape”
Great Time at the Sherlock Holmes Prom
Even lovers of Sherlock Holmes may have learned something new about the great man on Sunday 16 August at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Matthew Sweet, BBC Radio 3 presenter, and Mark Gatiss, actor, and co-creator of the Sherlock TV drama series, together presented a fantastic programme of music related to Sherlock Holmes. Mark Gatiss readContinue reading “Great Time at the Sherlock Holmes Prom”
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